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Israel: Disarming Militants Paramount

(AP/Washington Post) Amy Teibel - Israeli Defense Minister Mofaz said Wednesday that the handover of additional West Bank towns to Palestinian control will require greater effort by Palestinian police to disarm militants. Israel transferred security control of Jericho and Tulkarm to the Palestinians during the past week and, as part of the agreement, Palestinian fugitives in those towns were given limited amnesty. But Israeli security officials said Palestinian security forces have broken a promise to disarm the militants in the towns under their control. In addition, fugitives have fled to Tulkarm from other parts of the West Bank to take advantage of the promised immunity. "The Palestinians' rate of progress on everything regarding arrests and their obligations is very slow to the point where nothing at all has been done," Mofaz said. "This will make it difficult for us to hand over responsibility for the additional towns."
2005-03-24 00:00:00
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